With everyone — save for the Heavenly Emperor who the group had quietly decided to ignore — was on board with this plan, all that was left was to prepare for the upcoming days and silently pray that the Son of Heaven would manage to deal with his issues soon so the awkward living arrangements wouldn’t last for too long.

An Bai gave a faint smile and inclined his head toward the group. “Since matters have been decided, Ascended deity Leng and I should leave to take care of matters on the dragon realm’s side. We will get back in touch as soon as possible.

Leng Jin Yu hurriedly gave a hum and then followed An Bai out of the throne room.

Li Yin glanced at the two of them and then eyed the Heavenly Couple who looked like another fight was about to ensue before clicking his tongue. “Somebody should see our guests off. Since everyone else will be busy moving, I will take care of that.” Then, he also turned around and left. He didn’t actually bother sending anyone though. Instead, he directly rushed back to his palace, wanting to find Leng Lu as soon as possible. This matter, he couldn’t wait a moment longer to bring it up!

When he arrived at the doorstep of the palace, there were some officials gathering around to make reports as usual. Li Yin took a deep breath and dealt with them in a rush.

He really didn’t feel like there was time for this but then, even if he found Leng Lu immediately, it wasn’t like just knowing about this matter would let him become a trueborn god again in seconds. No, there would still be hard work to do so what did a few minutes matter? In fact, it was probably best to take a bit more time now. He couldn’t rush this. With the way Leng Lu’s mind worked, who knew how he would react if he seemed too eager?

Thinking of this, Li Yin’s heart slowly calmed down. Yes, he needed to stay calm. Later, they could slowly discuss and make plans. Then, everything would be dealt with step by step until the day they could be a normal couple again.

The last report was handed back and Li Yin glanced around, making sure that nobody else had something to say. When the officials had mostly scattered again, he waved one of them back. “Just now, we received news from the dragon realm. I will be sorting those out so we can react appropriately to any new developments regarding the crown prince’s situation. Have senior official Yi Yun deal with any urgent matters for the time being so I won’t be disturbed.”

“Yes.” The official hurriedly inclined his head and went to make the necessary arrangements.

As for Li Yin, he finally walked the rest of the way to his study. As soon as he opened the door, he was pulled inside and held tightly. Thinking of the news he had received, he hugged Leng Lu back, sighing faintly. He suddenly felt relaxed, more than he had in a long time.

He would be the first to admit that he had always been a serious and ambitious person. From early on, he had wanted to do something with his life that would be able to change the Nine Heavens, something that would allow him to leave his mark on the history of their realm. Looking back, he had managed to do so.

He was the youngest God of Justice ever in office and his strict handling of the court’s affairs had allowed for some reforms that had overall led to the betterment of the gods’ judicial system. It wasn’t perfect and he also knew that his role could never compare to what people in the position of the Heavenly Emperor or the dragon king could do but with the limited means given to him or rather the means he had managed to carve out for himself, he had reached what he aimed to do. He was satisfied with this part of his life.

It was just … with all these years focused on his work, there were naturally some things that had passed him by. And yes, he would be lying if he said that he didn’t sometimes have regrets. If there was one thing he would change in the course of his life, one change he could make … it would be to take a vacation once or twice throughout the years to give himself a chance to freely fall in love before everything became so complicated.

Yes, if he had slowed down just once, maybe things wouldn’t have come to this. Maybe his lover wouldn’t have been a fallen god and he would be able to talk about his son’s other father without issue instead of allowing everyone to believe there had either been a tragedy he couldn’t bring himself to speak about.

Of course, he knew that regrets were useless. He had fallen in love during his trial and his lover had turned into a fallen god before he even regained all his memories. Now, millennia had passed and the worry accumulated during every secret meeting they had, every word they whispered to each other, and every lie he used to cover up this relationship had become so much it was hard to bear. Other than Leng Lu and Ru Zhen, there was nobody who knew, nobody he could share his troubles with. Not even his best friend was aware that his lover was a fallen god or that a lover even existed in the first place.

Now, that secrecy might soon be over. Just thinking of that, he felt as if a big burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Thinking of the happy times ahead, he finally turned his head and kissed Leng Lu’s cheek. “I just received news. They found the crown prince and he fell but … apparently, there is a way to turn back. Do you realize what this means?” He reached up and cupped Leng Lu’s cheeks, his gaze soft. “You can become a trueborn god again, Leng Lu.”

Unexpectedly, his lover didn’t seem to share his joy. His brows furrowed and he instead took a step back, looking at him oddly. “Why would I ever want to do that?”